South Metro

[Skyndalive]

Fished the south end pretty hard the last 10 days and heres what we found.
Cedar-lots of medium sized perch, a few 1#-1.5# eyes here and there and small sunnies.
Fish- 8-10" crappies, again a few 1#-1.5# eyes, small sunnies, small perch.
Spring- Really nailed some nice perch one day(42)....next day it was the dead sea!
Carl's- Caught 6 species out of the same hole. Sunnies, crappies, walleye, northern, bass and a bullhead! All small to medium sized fish.
Prior-small to medium sized perch, sunnies and crappies.(first time on this lake though).
Orchard- Skunked!
Crystal- Had to work hard for 2 10" crappies, otherwise nothing.
Marion-Tried the deepest part of the lake(20') for some crappies or eyes......no luck.

Moved around alot and caught lots of fish during this stretch, just nothing to write home about. Anybody else having any luck on these waters?

[fishgutz]

I've fished these waters pretty hard the last five years or so because they are close to home. And, for five years your posts pretty much sums up the fishing on these lakes. I don't meant to get on a rant here, but they are HORRIBLE for fishing and the DNR does absoulutly nothing about it. YET, they are THE most frequented lakes I've ever seen in this state by DNR officers looking to hand out tickets. For how small the lakes are they have large populations of fisherman because guys want to fish close to home. Understadably so... My huge gripe is... Can't they use a little of that energy from trying to ticket every tom, dick and harry and put some emphasis into turning these lakes around a little bit and make the half way decent fisheries. I have to drive 40+ miles to get to a decent fishing hole and I live withing pissing distance of all of these lakes. Doesn't seem right!
Sorry guys had to vent...
fishgutz

[so haaad]

Yep, I was on Orchard with a buddy yesterday afternoon and we both took home two nice-sized skunk's, also. We were out in the crappie hole, and then tried in really shallow next to the middle weed bed in about 8'. We could literally look down the hole and see sunfish come up and bump our jigs. We tried every known jig in the box, and minnows, waxies and shrimp. Lock jaw.

[Cyberfish]

I don't know what the DNR can really do about it. the problems stem from two things, lakeshore residents destroying shoreline habitat and spawning areas to have a nice lawn and beach, and people keeping too many fish. I would like to see people stop doing these things,yet on the other hand I would hate to see more more laws and more government control. its a tough issue to be sure...

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simul iustus et peccator

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[Lucky Dogg]

hey guys, i'v lived in b'ville for ten yrs. and i have fished all these lakes, and i agree that all these lakes have been OVER fished. they all have went down hill the last five yrs. i used to get 1-2 lb. crappies on crystal 4-5 yrs. ago. now its all full of small fish, to many small fish. the only lake i fish now is Prior. without the snow on the ground its not all that busy with sleds, witch is nice! remember to move around until you find them and try using scented bait. i'm using one now that lights up my vex! ths crappies hit it so fast that i don't think they know what their are doing. it's also worked for walleye. good luck on your next fishing trip! thx DOGG